Assistantships and Funding
PhD Funding
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Teaching Assistantships (PhD only)
The Department of Classics supports approx. 11 students in the PhD program through teaching assistantships; typically, 2 or 3 of these are awarded each year to incoming students. The expected workload for teaching assistants is 20 hours per week. In Fall 2020, the base stipend for entering TAs will be approximately $23,000 per year. There is a possibility for entering students to be awarded some additional funding if they are awarded College of Arts and Sciences scholarships. The enhanced scholarships are competitive awards to students across the thirty departments of the College of Arts and Sciences. Prospective students may not apply for these: the Classics faculty examines each entering student’s dossier, and nominates students for enhanced funding if they meet the qualifications. A College-wide committee makes the decision on awarding funding to nominated students.
The Excellence in PhD Initiative, which has significantly enhanced graduate student stipends, is advocating that entering PhD students be granted a year with stipend and without teaching duties, but this is still an expectation, not a guarantee. As of now, we can guarantee that PhD students admitted with TA funding will receive a stipend of approximately $23,000, a full tuition scholarship and, medical insurance. The strong expectation is that the new Excellence in PhD initiative funding will be renewable for up to five years of support for students making satisfactory progress towards the PhD and otherwise in good standing. At minimum, funding will be renewable for four years of support, with a good likelihood of 5th year funding. Accepted students will be notified when admitted of the exact stipend and number of years of funding.
Students entering the program with a teaching assistantship are usually assigned to assist in large enrollment classes taught by a faculty member. Their duties include attending the lectures, delivering occasional lectures to the class, and assisting with the composition and grading of exam and grading of papers. Advanced teaching assistants are usually provided the opportunity to teach one or more courses on their own during their third and/or fourth year of service. The courses regularly assigned to advanced teaching assistants include Latin 101 and 102, Women in the Ancient World, Ancient Sports, Heroes and Medical Terminology. When enrollment numbers justify it, graduate students may be able to assist in teaching Winter/ Summer session courses abroad, which the department has been offering in Greece, Italy, and Turkey.
Graduate students serving as sole instructors are supervised by faculty in the Department of Classics.
The following guidelines govern Classics faculty supervision of graduate students serving as sole instructors:
1. A faculty member assumes responsibility for supervising whichever graduate students serve as sole instructor in a specific course for a three-year period.
2. When a graduate student is assigned to that course he/she is informed of the faculty member who will serve as his/her supervisor, while the faculty supervisor is informed of the student/students who will be teaching the course for which he/she is responsible during the coming semester.
3. The faculty supervisor and graduate student instructor meet well before the beginning of the semester to review what will be involved in teaching the course.
4. The graduate student instructor provides the faculty supervisor with a draft copy of the proposed syllabus for his/her review and comment not less than one week before the beginning of the semester.
5. The faculty supervisor makes himself/herself available to the graduate student instructor for consultation throughout the semester.
6. The faculty supervisor and graduate student instructor arrange for a mid-semester course evaluation and review together the results of this evaluation.
7. The faculty supervisor audits at least one class meeting of the course as agreed with the graduate student instructor.
8. After the conclusion of the semester the faculty supervisor and the graduate student instructor hold a meeting at which they review the latter’s performance in the course.
Dissertation Fellowships
The College of Arts and Sciences may offer Dissertation Fellowships in the amount of $6,000 to assist advanced doctoral students in completing their dissertations.
UB Financial Assistance
Graduate applicants may be eligible for several other sources of funding offered by the University at Buffalo and the College of Arts and Sciences, including:
The Neely Fund
The James P. Neely Memorial Fund offers approximately $2,000 per year to support UB students in the Department of Classics. All declared Classics Majors (BA) and Classics MA and PhD students are eligible to receive funding. Funds may be used for educational expenses, travel or study abroad, or other purposes deemed by Department of Classics faculty as advancing the student’s experience and understanding of the classical world.
Travel Funding
The Department of Classics provides modest amounts of travel funding to graduate students when available to help with the expenses involved in interviewing for jobs and making presentations at the AIA and APA meetings, making presentations at regional conferences, undertaking dissertation research and participation in archaeological field projects.
How to Apply for Travel Funding
Each year, there will be two deadlines for submissions of applications for funding, one during the fall semester (November) and one during the spring semester (April). In order to be considered for funding, students must submit one document to Alison Blaszak that includes the following information:
- Applicant’s name
- Activity for which funding is being requested (nature, dates)
- Projected budget for activity
- Amount of funding requested from the Department of Classics
- Other sources of funding applied for or to be applied for to help cover costs of activity in question (e.g., GSA, AIA traveling fellowship, etc).
- Funding previously obtained from Department of Classics for research activities (amount, date)
Please note: For spring travel funding requests, students must leave for their destination no later than June 30. (E.g. Trip dates can be 6/30 – 7/29, but not 7/1 – 7/29.) Requests for travel after June 30 will not be considered. All reimbursements for the spring requests need to have taken place by June 30.
The Department of Classics is willing to offer graduate students funding in support of the following activities relating to research and job hunting. The list is prioritized in descending order. Students may apply for funding for more than one event per year, but first-time applicants will be given preference.
- Presentation of a paper or poster at AIA/APA meetings or other scholarly conferences (up to $250) *
- Participation in archaeological field work directed by member of U. at Buffalo Department of Classics (up to $500) ***
- Participation in archaeological field work directed by member of U. at Buffalo faculty not a member of Department of Classics (up to $500) ***
- Participation in other type of summer training program (e.g., American Numismatic Society, American Academy in Rome Summer Program in Archaeology) (up to $500) ***
- Participation in archaeological field work directed by someone not a member of U. at Buffalo faculty (up to $500) ***
*Funds can be employed for reimbursement of registration, hotel, travel and/or materials/slides/printing expenses. Failure to honor these obligations will result in loss of funding.
***Funds can be employed for reimbursement of travel expenses, living expenses, and/or tuition. Failure to honor these obligations will result in loss of funding.